Tympan-gage adjusting and squaring device for printing-presses.



No 726,128. PATENTED APR, 21, 1903.

4 P. WQWILEY.

"TYMPAN GAGE ADJUSTING AND SQUARINGDE'VIGEIFOR PRINTING PRESSES., V AYPLIOATION FILED NOV. 20,1902. I

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distance to give the desired margins.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILIP W. YVILEY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

TYMPAN-GAGE ADJUSTING AND SQUARING DEVICE FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,128, dated April 21, 1903.

Application filed November 20, 1902. Serial No. 132,159. (No model To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that-I, PHILIP W. WILEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at IV-ashington, District of Columbia, have invented certainnew andusefulImprovementsinTympan-Gage Adjusting and Squaring Devices for Printing-Presses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to means for enabling the tympan-gages of printing-presses to be set square with the format the proper Here- Y tofore the current practice has been after the' form has been locked in the chase and the latter secured in the bed of the press to take an impression on the tynipan,which has been secured by clamps over the platen of the press, and then by the eye and by measurement with an ordinary ruler from said impression to determine the places for the tympan-gages, against which each sheet of paper is fed when it is placed on the platen for printing. The determination of the said places in this old way requires considerable care more, in fact, than many printers are disposed to take, and the result is, first, a liability for the matter to be printed more or less obliquely on the paper instead of square with the edges; second, a liability for the matter to be printed with a greater or a less margin than desired, and, third, a considerable expenditure of time if sufiicient care be taken to insure accuracy as to squareness of the printing and to size of margin. By means of the present invention the; proper places for the tympan-gages can be determined with greater accuracy and facil ity than by the current. practice or by any mode heretofore devised, so far as I am aware; The cost,-moreover, of the necessary device (forming part of the invention)'is trifling. The invention, as well as the best mode of carrying it into effect, can 'inost conveniently be described with the aid of the accompany ing drawings, which form part of this specification. 1

Figures 1 and 2 are plan views of the platen and accessories, illustrating the two stages of setting the tympan-gages in accordance with the invention; and Fig. 3 is a plan of another form of the new or improved adjusting and squaring device.

The platen rt is covered with the tympan Z), of paper or other yielding material. This tympan may be secured by clamps c and receives an impression of the form. Such impression may be of any desired matter; but it consists as shown of the inventors name and residence-as in printing letter-heads or envelops, for example. So far the procedure in using my invention is the same as in the current practice;

The next operationis go determine the places for the tympan-gages d, Fig. 2, against which the sheets (envelops, letter-paper, or as the case maybe) are fed preparatory to being carried with the platen at for printing thereon. For effecting this a sheet e of transparent material, most advantageously a tough transparent material like transparent cellu- I loid, is provided, with the twogage edges that is to say, the two adjacent edges which are to determine the positions of the tympangagesat right angles to each other and with two sets of gage-lines parallel to said edges, respectively. When this sheet e is placed over the impression on the tympan, such impression is visible through the sheet, and it is easy so to adjust the latter as that one set of gage-lines thereon shall be parallel with the lines of printing and that the gage edges of the sheet shall lie beyond the impression the distance desired for the respective margins in printing. Having thus placed the sheet e in position, lines f, Fig. 2, may be drawn on "the tympan along the gage edges, and

'the sheet 6 being then removed the tympangages d can be set readily so as accurately to register with lines f. As the gage edges of the sheet e are accurately squared, the lines f will lie strictly at right angles, and as the gages d are set bylinesfthe sheets fed against them for printing will be accurately squared. Any known orsuitable form of tympan-gages can be used, and they may be set directly by the gage edges" of the .sheet e, although it is considered better to draw linesfon the tympan by said edges and to adjust the gages by suchtympan-lines. Mostadvantageouslythe lines on the sheet 6 lie at such short distance apart as that when the sheet e is placed over the impression on the tympan one or more of the said lines will fall within the impression and that the lines will form measures to aid in giving the desired margins. A proper space between the lines is that of an em pica, (one-sixth of an inch,) and it is designed to use such space; but other greater or less spaces can be used.

Two sets of lines are provided on the gage adjusting and squaring sheet e, because forms do not always have their lines of printing run in the same direction. Sometimes they run at right angles to the direction of those on the drawings, and therefore the pressman would sometimes bring one set of gage-lines and sometimes the other set into parallelism with the printing-lines of the impression on the tympan, according to the disposition of the form in the bed of the press. By turning the sheet 6 over, however, and a quarter of the way around the same gage edges can be used and the one set of gage-lines can be brought into parallelism with the lines of printing,whichever way these may run on the tympan. In specifying, therefore, in the hereinafter-written claims that the gage adjusting and squaring sheet is provided with lines parallel with the gage edges parallelism with one or both such edges is intended. The form with two sets of lines is considered, however, the best and a special improvement, because the sheet could then be used always in the same relative position on the tympan and also because the second set of lines would serve as measures for securing quickly the desired distance between the ends of the lines ofprinting and the corresponding tympan gage or gages. The sheet 2 being loose on the tympan bis universally adjustable in its own plane and is removable.

At 9 is an eyeleted hole for hanging up the sheet 6, and h a blank space for advertising matter. In Fig. 3 a form of sheet 6 (also within the invention) is shown, in which the back is made oblique in order to save material. It would answer as well as a rectangular sheet of greater surface for most press-forms. There might, however, be some jobs wherein the margins would be so Wide as to bring the impression on the tympan outside of sheet of Fig. 3, when it would not do so with a rectangular sheet, as in Fig. 1, having gage edges of the same length, respectively, as those of the sheet e of Fig. 3.

A sheet a, with gage edges of four and seven inches, respectively, is considered to be the most useful for the general run of work; but a sheet can be used which is larger or smaller on either or on both gage edges.

I claim as my invention or discovery- 1. A tympan-gage adjusting and squaring device for printing-presses, consisting of a sheet of transparent material with gage edges at right angles to each other and gage-lines parallel with said edges, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the platen and tympan of a printing-press, the tympan carrying the impression of the form of said press, of a universally adjustable and removable tympan-gage adjusting and squaring device placed over said impression and consisting of a sheet of transparent material with gage edges at right angles to each otherand gageliues parallel with said edges, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I alfix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PHILIP W. WILEY. lVitnesses:

ALBANUS S. T. JOHNSON, HORACE F. CLARK. 

